“University Communist Party organs must adopt firmer and stronger measures to maintain harmony and stability in universities,” Mr Xi said told Communist Party members at a meeting attended by the country’s universities chiefs in Beijing.

“Daily management of the institutions should be stepped up to create a good atmosphere for the success of the Party’s 18th congress,” he added.

The Party’s grip on universities is seen as crucial in cementing its ideology among the influential middle classes – and campuses have long been regarded as source for discontent.

Describing universities as a key ideological front for equipping young people with socialist values, Xi said on-campus party-building should aim to cultivate qualified builders and reliable successors for China’s socialist cause

Xi said ideological and political work concerning university faculty should be improved, as their morals and qualities exert a gradual and imperceptible influence on students.